BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle is a game in the BlazBlue series planned for release on May 31, 2018 in Japan, June 5, 2018 in North America, and June 22, 2018 in Europe for PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Steam. It will be published by Arc System Works in Japan, Arc System Works America in North America, and PQube in Europe. The game combines four franchises: Arc System Works' BlazBlue, Atlus' Persona 4 Arena, French Bread's Under Night In-Birth, and Rooster Teeth's RWBY. A fifth franchise, represented by a pink square, was teased at Evo 2018.[5]

It was revealed at the main stage of the 2017 Evolution Championship Series (Evo 2017). [6]

Story

On the stage of stories, mixing the four worlds together into a special alternate "Phantom Field."

The fighters have been abruptly summoned to that world, with an unknown "voice:""If you wish to return to your world, protect the [Keystone]."—In the end, is that voice telling the truth?

The entrusted keys number four.Enemies, or friends?

The fighters take a risk in order to return to their own world, and throw themselves into the battle to steal each other's "Keystone"—.[7]

Modes

Entrance

- A cute room with 3D avatars! It serves as the entrance to all the other game modes, and includes fun gimmicks as well.[8]If you open the menu in Entrance Mode, you can choose between the various modes of the game.[9]

Development

Information

It was announced early on that BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle would not take place in the main BlazBlue storyline, but was said to be a possibility. The main story would focus on the crossover of the four series, and Guilty Gear characters would not be present. Futhermore, there would be no arcade version, and it would be a straight release to consoles. Mechanically, it would be different from BlazBlue.

At the time of the game's announcement, the "expected" or obvious characters had already been decided for the roster. The game was announced relatively early in its development cycle due to the developers wanting to hear the players' requests for characters.[13] Overall, characters were chosen with the game balance and game system in mind first and foremost, so that a wide variety of players would be able to play and enjoy the game. The characters from other (non-BlazBlue) franchises were chosen by sending a list of characters over to their companies. The list would be whittled down there, and sometimes they would make a request for a specific character to be included.[14]

Cross Tag Battle's first gameplay video was released during New York Comic Con, on Oct 6. Character trailers and additional gameplay videos are shown during the monthly Japanese-language ARC SYSTEM WORKS Official Live Regular Broadcast, aka ArcNama Regular Broadcast (あーくなま定期便 Ākunama Teikiben) or simply ArcNama (あーくなま Ākunama), hosted by Arc System Works. ArcNama Regular Broadcast is an offshoot of the original, irregularly-streamed ArcNama, which featured various Arc System Works games. The ArcNama Regular Broadcast, on the other hand, is streamed on the third Friday of every month at 8 pm JST on both Twitch and NicoNico simultaneously,[15]. Its first episode was streamed August 2017.

Following RTX London, Arc System Works published an article with updated screenshots of gameplay for the newly-announced characters Weiss and Hazama.[16] An additional character trailer (Character Introduction Trailer #2) was revealed at RTX London 2017.

Characters included in the demo for EVO Japan 2018

A "Special Promotional Trailer" was broadcast during Arc System Work's Fighting Game Awards (ASW FGA) at the end of the BlazBlue portion of the tournament, prominently featuring and introducing all twenty characters that had revealed up until then, as well as revealing the Japanese release date, Blake, and the final character count of forty characters, twenty of which (including Blake) would be downloadable content (DLC). This was followed up with further details about the release, including the North America release date, prices for physical and downloadable versions, and details about the limited edition.

On Feb 6, 2018 it was announced that Cross Tag Battle would be the fourth game present at the Evolution Championship Series 2018 (Evo 2018). Along with a broadcast of a fully English-subtitled version of the ASW FGA trailer, it was revealed that Blake and Yang would be provided as free DLC.[17]

On Feb 7, 2018 the first English-language Arc System Works Official Livestream, ARC Live!, was announced on Twitter[18] and streamed on Twitch at 4 pm PST. Mirroring the Japanese-language version of the livestream, various Arc System Works titles are showcased during the live with gameplay, including Cross Tag Battle. It was mentioned on stream that the series would be streamed weekly. During the first ARC Live!, an ASW staffer reconfirmed that Blake and Yang would be free DLC, that the four RWBY characters would have both English and Japanese voices, and clarified that Blake would be available at launch, while Yang would be available shortly after launch.[19]

At a press release in mid February 2018, attended by BlazBlue producer Toshimichi Mori and Arc System Works CEO Kidooka, it was announced that Cross Tag Battle would support dual audio with full English and Japanese voices.[20]

Development Builds

October 2017

A playable build was first exhibited in October 2017 at four events worldwide: New York Comic Con (NYCC) in New York (Oct 5-8), South East Asia Major @ GameStart 2017 in Singapore (Oct 14-15), RTX London in London (Oct 14-15), and Arc Revolution Cup 2017 (Arc Revo) at Toushinsai in Tokyo (Oct 21).[21] Arc Revo's playable demo featured an updated build referred to as the "Toushinsai build" in the gameplay manual, which included the third introduction trailer's characters as playable except for Weiss.[22] Following these events, Arc System Works put out a survey on BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle's official website in both English and Japanese requesting feedback from participants of any of the four events. It was available until Nov 8, 2017 at 8 am PST. [23]

In this first build in October 2017 at Toushinsai, Reject Guard used only half a skill gauge and Distortion Duo only used one skill gauge. Resonance Blaze had a maximum of four levels, and the amount of time spent in Resonance Blaze was extended depending on its level. One round lasted only 120 seconds, and players started with all three out of three skill gauges. The initial roster consisted of Ragna the Bloodedge, Jin Kisaragi, Yu Narukami, Yosuke Hanamura, Hyde, Linne, and Ruby Rose. Hazama, Rachel Alucard, and Weiss Schnee were added to the roster in the Toushinsai build. [24]

January 2018

During ASW FGA, it was announced that Arc System Works would appear at the 2018 Japanese Evolution Championship Series (Evo Japan) with a new demo featuring twenty playable characters (the twenty non-DLC characters).[25] It was announced at a later date that Arc System Works would also be appearing at Taipei Game Show 2018 (TaGS, TGS) along with a playable demo of Cross Tag Battle. This second playable build of Cross Tag Battle was presented simultaneously at Evo Japan (Jan 26-28, 2018) and Taipei Game Show (Jan 26-29, 2018).

In January 2018's build, Reject Guard and Distortion Duo had their costs changed to use 1 skill gauge and 2 skill gauges respectively, Resonance Blaze's max level was increased to five, and the amount of time spend in Resonance Blaze was changed to fifteen seconds excluding hitstun regardless of level. One round's length was increased to 180 seconds, and players started the round with only one skill gauge available out of a maximum of six. Additionally, this build added stage names to the pre-battle cutscene, as well as the Crash Assault "Crash!" indicator. [26] The roster was increased to twenty, adding in Noel Vermillion, Azrael, Iron Tager, Makoto Nanaya, Nu-13, Es, Chie Satonaka, Yukiko Amagi, Waldstein, and Gordeau.

April 2018

On March 8, 2018, Arc System Works America revealed that Cross Tag Battle would be playable at Anime Ascension at Irvine, California (Mar 31-Apr 1), and Anime Boston at Boston, Massachusetts (Mar 30-Apr 1).[27] A week after, it was also revealed to be at Sakura-Con in Seattle, Washington (Mar 30-Apr 1). These three conventions were the first to have available a playable build of Cross Tag Battle featuring the English dub.[28] The English dub would also continue on to be featured in the ARC Live!s following these three events.[29] They were followed by Sakura Fight Festa in London (Apr 7-8), the Brussels Challenge in Brussels (Apr 7-8),[30] and Next Level Battle Circuit in New York City (Apr 11)[31].

From Apr 8 to May 19, Cross Tag Battle playable demos were featured in various stores across Japan, alongside demos of Persona 3 Dancing Moon Night and Persona 5 Dancing Star Night.[32]. Demos were also made available in various GameStops across North America the week after April 11[33], and users were encouraged to provide feedback through the hashtag #BBTAGdemo.[34]

May 2018

The fighting game tournament KSB 2018 in Kansai (May 4-6) featured a new build of Cross Tag Battle containing the twenty base roster characters with their finalized command lists, as well as allowing Blake and Kanji, Orie, and Platinum from the DLC Character Pack 1 to be playable for the first time.

August 2018

BBTAG released a free trial on Steam for the duration of Evo 2018's weekend, allowing players to try out any of the twenty base characters in the roster.[35] After Evo 2018, the DLC characters for Character Packs 4, 5, and 6 were revealed and made available to demo at Evo's Bar Fights afterparty.[36]

Open Beta and Demo

NAEUJP

Hosted by Arc System Works America, the North American demo covers the beta and demo available to Canada, Mexico, and the USA for the PS4 and Switch.[37]

My Tag Cheer Campaign

On March 2, 2018, the BlazBlue official twitter announced a special campaign called the My Tag Cheer Campaign (推しタッグ応援キャンペーン Oshi Taggu Ōen Kyanpēn)[40]. During this campaign, fans could tweet with the hashtag #BBMyTag to express their favorite tag-team in BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle. Tweets in the hashtag containing original art would be retweeted by BlazBlue's official account, and fans could like or retweet others' tweets to show support. Especially popular tag teams would have a gameplay video made for them. Additionally, players who participated in the hashtag were automatically entered into a drawing for a specially-illustrated tapestry drawn by Konomi Higuchi, the main designer for Cross Tag Battle.[41] It was later clarified that only participants living in Japan could be sent the prize, although participation itself was open to everyone.[42] The event closed on May 31, 2018.

Mar 15, 2018We're grateful so many have participated in the "My Tag Cheer Campaign." We introduce today the hot topic of Blake・Azrael's tag team! The two of few words...Blake/Azrael(@tansandaisuki3's tweet)

Mar 31, 2018This time's tag team is Ruby・Orie! The bright Ruby and calm Orie, whether in public or in private will form a good team! Please enjoy it with the sound on. Ruby/Orie(@yonuishi's tweet)

Apr 13, 2018This time's tag team is Es・Linne! The two that shoulder great destinies on their small frames. Can they become friends as well as partners in battle? Please enjoy with the sound on!Es/Linne(@comics_HasiBiro's tweet)

May 11, 2018[44]This time's tag team is Hakumen・Weiss! Beautiful yet stern, graceful yet dauntless. When the two fight together, none can look away! Please enjoy with the sound on!Hakumen/Weiss(@migimigis' tweet)

Twitter Beta Test Countdown

The BlazBlue official Twitter (@BLAZBLUE_PR) began posting a series of tweets counting down to the first day of beta testing for Cross Tag Battle two weeks before the test. Each tweet featured a tag-team and a movie showing off the team's unique intro and outro lines.

Countdown Tweets

Apr 25, 2018［2 Weeks Until the Start of BBTAG's Beta Test!］The forever bickering Ragna and Jin. However, when forced to fight together, the siblings depend on each other...!?Ragna/Jin

Apr 26, 2018［13 Days Until the Start of BBTAG's Beta Test!］The exchange of high-fives is proof of their friendship. At Yosuke's words, Yu is in a surprisingly good mood?Yu/Yosuke

Apr 27, 2018［12 Days Until the Start of BBTAG's Beta Test!］From wielding the same type of weapon comes a certain harmony. Just which part of Ruby's high spirits does Gordeau find amusing?Ruby/Gordeau

May 7, 2018［2 Days Until the Start of BBTAG's Beta Test!］Yukiko's fire and Weiss' ice dance. Although it makes for a breathtaking show, the two seem a little dissatisfied...?Yukiko/Weiss

May 8, 2018［1 Day Until BBTAG's Beta Test Begins!］Yosuke speaks, yet Linne reacts philosophically...!? But when it comes down to it, these two can finish the job!Yosuke/Linne